It’s the slowest time of the NFL season, unless you get excited about franchise tags and press releases from the mediators of collective bargaining sessions. In Bearsland, it’s no different.
My Thoughts on the Release of Tommie Harris
I saw the announcement and I did not care and that, that more than anything, tells the story of Tommie Harris’ career with the Chicago Bears. For one short time he was the most dominant player at his position but a series of on-field injuries and in-brain disasters caused the train to not only veer off the track but through the station and into the church across the street. Tommie Harris has no one to blame for his career decline but himself. Some guys don’t have it together. Tommie is one of those guys. And now a man who should have wound up in Canton, having found the perfect system to play in, will finish his disappointing career jumping in-and-out of line rotations, playing a season with the Raiders and disappearing.
Pompei on Ruskell
Without specifics, Dan Pompei writes about the approach of new personnel director Tim Ruskell to this coming off-season – a fascinating one for the Chicago Bears. As Pompei asks to start the article, “What do you do with a roster that was good enough to get to within one game of the Super Bowl but still has significant holes and is not as young as you would like?” Pompei then writes:
Some might argue the top half of the Bears’ board should be heavy with defensive players, given the age of some of the key defenders. But Ruskell doesn’t see it that way.
Can someone explain to me the essence of this “argument”? Are the Bears simply content to plod along offensively while focusing all their attention on defensive depth. They have, right now, in place, a defense that can hold the world champions to three scores or less. They need to score points. They need to block.
Roster Decisions Coming This Week
Of the Bears unrestricted free agents (Kreutz, Anthony Adams, Roach, Maynard, Rashied, Corey Graham, Tinoisamoa, Danieal Manning) the only one I would not make a priority is Maynard. Sure I have no reason to believe Richmond McGee is capable of taking over the full-time punting duties in Chicago but Maynard’s inconsistency is simply no longer tolerable.
